In certain types of human and machine-readable information-bearing label, a set of elements is used to represent the information contained in the label. Information may be conveyed by varying the characteristics of the elements comprising the label, or by varying the position in which the label elements are placed. Reading apparatus is used which senses the is characteristics and location of the elements in order to decode the information contained within the label.
The elements in the label are sequentially scanned, to discover the presence of the constituent elements and to measure their characteristics and position, and hence to decode the information contained by the label.